Cutty Sark Hull

Semi gloss black is fine!     

I concurr w/ the "any black will do" (my choice is Tamiya acrilic flat black). If you need a semi gloss finish, you can pick up a clear semi gloss and go over it w/ that. Personally, I don't think any wooden part on a ship should be other than matte (with a few exceptions where a part may have origingally been varnished). I paint and then finish w/ Testors dul-cote. Mattes any gloss and adds a protective coat.

Older paints used to weather quite rapidly, so if the paint was originally gloss, as it weathers it will go semi-gloss, and eventually become flat, so any reflectance of black will work, but the other colors used should look like a similar age, though small areas could be justified as "repaints."

Any black will work. If it dries shiny, rub it with coarse cloth. The original ship was painted, so you can feel that your choice of black is accurate.